More than anything else, the HITECH Act and the Affordable Care Act are changing the landscape.

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Many consider the EHR Incentive Program (as legislated by the HITECH Act) to be the single most foundational element of healthcare reform.

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Look at the healthcare industry: the HITECH Act will require medical facilities to implement EMR systems for data retention and collaboration by 2015.

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The Fongs who founded ElationEMR in 2010, a year after the HITECH Act, say they are not driven by government subsidies to doctors to help purchase an electronic health record.

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Three federal initiatives the HITECH Act, the Health Data Initiative (HDI) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are designed to improve clinical quality and the patient experience, and make health care more affordable.

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Hospitals and doctors are currently busy implementing the first stage of requirements under the HITECH Act, which calls for providing patients within the next two years with an electronic copy of their physical, test results, and medications.

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In an act of hubris that should serve as a cautionary tale for other health IT companies, Epocrates decided to take advantage of the 2009 HITECH Act which subsidizes the purchase of electronic health records, by getting into the EHR business itself.

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For example, the same notifications sent to the media as required under the HITECH Act (a personal information protection act for healthcare data) may or may not be required by state regulations, depending on the states and the specifics of your incident.

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